Several dead and many feared missing after boat capsizes off Greek island | Greece

At least five people drowned after their wooden boat capsized off Greece’s southern island of Gavdos, the coastguard said.

So far 39 men – most of them from Pakistan – have been rescued by cargo vessels sailing in the area. They have been transferred to the island of Crete, the coastguard said, adding that the number of those missing had not yet been confirmed.

Coastguard boats, merchant vessels, an Italian frigate and naval aircraft have been searching the area since Greek authorities were alerted about the incident on Friday night.

In separate incidents on Saturday, a Malta-flagged cargo vessel rescued 47 people from a boat sailing about 40 nautical miles off Gavdos, while a tanker rescued another 88 people 28 nautical miles off the tiny island in Greece’s south.

According to initial information, coastguard officials believe the boats left together from Libya.

Greece was a favoured gateway to the European Union for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia in 2015-2016, when nearly 1 million people landed on its islands, mostly via inflatable dinghies.

Incidents with boats and shipwrecks off Crete and its tiny neighbour Gavdos, which are relatively isolated in the central Mediterranean, have increased over the past year.

In 2023, hundreds of people drowned when an overcrowded vessel capsized and sank in international waters off the south-western Greek coastal town of Pylos. It was one of the deadliest boat disasters ever in the Mediterranean Sea.